'Avengers: Infinity War' Directors Thought a Sherlock Holmes Joke Would Be Too Obvious

One of the many impressive elements of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is it has managed to draw in massive stars from various properties to play iconic characters alongside one another. For example, Robert Downey Jr. has starred as the titular character in two Sherlock Holmes films while Benedict Cumberbatch played the character in a BBC series, with the two sharing scenes alongside one another as Iron Man and Doctor Strange in the MCU's latest film.

After witnessing Avengers: Infinity War, many fans were bewildered at why there wasn't a moment in which a character could drop a "No sh-t, Sherlock" joke addressed at either character, though it's exactly for that reason that the joke was avoided. According to directors Joe and Anthony Russo at an event at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., they avoided using such a joke as it was "too obvious," as reported by Comic Book Resources.

A quick search of the phrase on social media will show you countless users who wondered why such a line was omitted, which essentially confirms the point that if your average moviegoer could concoct the dialogue, everyone in the theater would have seen it coming. Additionally, a reference like this would have seemingly broken the fourth wall, which the MCU has a tendency to avoid.

Downey's first Sherlock Holmes film hit theaters in 2009, well before his work schedule became crowded with a variety of MCU projects. Since the film's 2011 sequel, the franchise hasn't advanced, though Downey is interested in rounding out the series into a trilogy in the future.

"First of all the missus is front and center with Joe Roth producing Doolittle," Downey shared of his future projects when speaking with Entertainment Weekly earlier this year. "I'm having a good time, though I decided to give myself, like, 40 additional challenges, like a Welsh accent — which even Welsh people say is hard to do."

"Then there's all this stuff down the pike," Downey added. "We're looking at another Sherlock Holmes, we're developing Perry Mason for HBO. I still want to do Pinocchio."

Interestingly, Downey's co-stars in the films, Jude Law and Rachel McAdams, also joined the MCU with Law starring in Captain Marvel and McAdams starring in Doctor Strange.

Sadly, Cumberbatch's tenure as Sherlock may have ended, with the BBC series' showrunner Mark Gatiss claiming there's no real promise that a new season could take place.

"We have no immediate plans, everyone's very up for it but I think it's just terribly difficult to schedule everyone," Gatiss shared with the RadioTimes last year. "It's just so hard to get everyone's diaries to align. And there's always the Faulty Towers principle, just leaving it as it is, equally if in a few years time we all came back and said, 'Should we do another one?' I think that everyone would be very happy to do so..."

You can see the two Sherlocks in Avengers: Infinity War, in theaters now.

Other upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe films include Ant-Man and The Wasp on July 6th, Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, and the fourth Avengers on May 3, 2019. The sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming hits on July 5, 2019, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 lands in 2020.

Do you wish the film had referenced Sherlock? Let us know in the comments below!

[H/T Comic Book Resources]